The Boston Globe has an interesting article about a number of big states moving up their primaries:
Political leaders in California, Florida, and Michigan are gaining momentum in their efforts to move up the 2008 presidential primaries in their states to shortly after New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary, which could lead some candidates to focus less attention on the Granite State and trigger a dramatic increase in the cost of early campaigning.
This will have a dramatic impact on the race. Money organizations will matter more. On the GOP side, this makes it harder for the Newt strategy to be viable (how does he get the $75m it takes to buy all of that TV?) and the helps Romney. (I have written on this before regarding California and Romney) This makes it more likely to be a McCain versus Romney showdown. Giuliani has not demonstrated the financial infrastructure necessary to put a hundred staffers in each of these states and $30-50 million (although RudyBlogger may disagree). McCain will have that apparatus. And Romney can cut a check from his own pocket if he needs to.
On the Dem side, the same calculus holds. The rise of Obama hurts Edwards’ Hillary-slaying capacity and Hillary’s money matters more. If Hillary survives the early states, Edwards will not be able to raise the money to stop her.
